Understanding: Billboard BB200 vs US Album Sales

III) Billboard Issues

A) The Switch: the first Soundscan chart ever

To understand the issues of the Billboard Album chart prior to the introduction of Soundscan, the best way is to have a look at the very first ranking that was based on Soundscan figures. It happened on May 25, 1991. Here is that fundamental BB200 Chart.

We will ignore the big climbers that had album releases just before like Michael Bolton and Luther Vandross. We already know that pre-Soundscan charts were slower, completing a curve rather than starting high and going down. As it was based on reports from various areas, an album often needed several weeks before getting reports from the entire country, although this issue was sorted slowly year after year.

The first striking fact is the increases of Garth Brooks. His No Fences rocketed from #16 to #4 while his self-titled debut climbed #40-#22, both hitting new peaks after many months on the charts.

    1. GARTH BROOKS
Produced by: Allen Reynolds
Date: 12/05/1990 – Run: 133-138-141-132-113-100-96-77-71-65-58-57-52-50-50-49-49-48-51-53-43-65-65-66-50-48-53-57-66-76-87-88-85-85- (34 wsf)
            05/01/1991: 73-64-67-74-77-78-68-70-69-74-78-84-84-93-104-107-110-116-69-40-22-25-25-30-35-24-32-34-36-42-47-44-41-41-45-49-50-50-43-45-49-33-32-37-40-40-35-33-33-37-37-37- (86 wsf)
            04/01/1992: 38-38-31-32-23-*13*-17-19-19-21-23-27-27-28-29-37-33-38-35-31-33-32-39-39-37-37-33-35-47-42-47-50-54-54-59-53-51-54-49-42-42-45-46-47-52-60-67-61-59-65-63-60- (138 wsf)
            02/01/1993: 60-62-64-59-69-77-83-87-94-92-97-100-102-116-118-101-102-115-131-132-130-118-131-130-151-149-155-155-162-164-164-160-152-150-142-136-147-123-122-126-133-142-141-151-157-165-169-153-165-173-149-141- (190 wsf)
            01/01/1994: 139-130-141-146-170-175-178-176-169-163-171-171-174-164-179-158-169-177-181-166-149-132-158-174-177-176-183-193-0-199 (219-218c wks)
Re 01: 24/09/1994: 180-163-165-185 (4 wks, 223 wsf)
Re 02: 24/12/1994: 200 (1 wk)
Total # of re-entries: 3
Total # of weeks: 224-218c (Top 20: 4 Top 40: 49)

    2. NO FENCES
Produced by: Allen Reynolds
Date: 22/09/1990 – Run: 52-32-23-26-19-15-12-13-15-16-17-17-15-15-15- (15 wsf)
            05/01/1991: 17-19-24-26-26-27-27-27-27-24-23-22-25-27-31-34-36-34-25-16- 4-6-7-8-8-4-4-8-10-8-11- 10-9-12-12-11-12-13-14-15-15- 10-10-10-10-13-12- 9-12-14-12-12- (67 wsf)
            04/01/1992: 14-16-12- 10-5-*3*-3-4-4-4-5-7-5-4-5-11-12-14-15- 7-6-6-10-11-11-11-13- 9-7-8-12-14-16-15-19-20-21-20-21-18-15-16-19-21-18-27-25-27-27-23-26-23- (119 wsf)
            02/01/1993: 24-33-29-29-36-38-40-40-46-47-57-59-60-64-76-67-69-73-77-78-71-64-72-79-92-91-89-98-108-109-111-103-97-90-89-85-87-82-84-90-93-98-93-98-106-117-126-109-121-116-100-93- (171 wsf)
            01/01/1994: 91-89-97-99-121-132-129-121-120-125-130-129-133-130-136-123-132-137-142-135-108-102-112-128-138-141-143-138-152-147-147-143-156-153-162-166-180-163-146-136-136-154-177-169-177-182-190-186-181-167-153-143-186 (224/36-12c wks)
Top 10 re-entries: 6
Total # of weeks: 224 (Top 10: 36-12c, Top 20: 88 Top 40: 126)

With both albums we see a clear improvement on chart runs from the introduction, which suggests his real sales were deflated on former charts. Thanks to our formulas, we can now confirm – or not – this situation. The next page will do just that. Let’s first continue to see big climbers / droppers of that May 1991 chart.

  TW LW WKS Album Artist
24   53     8 Eagle When She Flies Dolly Parton
39   59   36 Rumor Has It Reba McEntire
41 104   39 Reflections Of Passion Yanni
42   69   45 We Are In Love Harry Connick Jr
  57   76   61 Here In The Real World Alan Jackson
62   98   26 Love Can Build A Bridge The Judds
70 152   41 Country Club Travis Tritt
74 199 123 Beaches Soundtrack
105   RE   22 Pass It On Down Alabama
134   RE   22 Starry Night Julio Iglesias

This list is far from being comprehensive – that chart was a huge shaker. Among the climbers, we can easily identify a lot of country acts as well as atypical artists including foreign acts such as Yanni and Julio Iglesias.  If some albums climbed a lot, others had to go down.

 TW LW WKS Album Artist
  17     7   13 MCMXC AD Enigma
25   13   31 Heart Shaped World Chris Isaak
40   17   15 Divinyls Divinyls
52   23     6 Flashpoint The Rolling Stones
56   22   16 The Soul Cages Sting
59   31     9 Free Rick Astley
63   21   13 In The Blood Londonbeat
77   38   18 Hi-Five Hi-Five
90   47     6 Mama Said Lenny Kravitz
114   64   39 Trixter Trixter
118   61   34 X INXS
128   78     4 Real Life Simple Minds
137   91   38 Ritual De Lo Habitual Jane’s Addiction
140   60   10 Night Ride Home Joni Mitchell
141   96   35 Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 George Michael
144 102   14 Innuendo Queen
185 117   37 World Clique Deee-Lite
191   94   14 Rude Awakening Rude Boys
194 100   11 International Pop Overthrow Material Issue

Unsurprisingly, this list is extensively made up of Pop / Rock artists. Those acts used to sell well in big cities and large retailers, unlike the country acts that had specific demographics and specific retailers. This list includes big names who sold a lot in the years prior to Soundscan like Sting and INXS.

The ups and downs may not appear that brutal. When we add both effects, deflations and inflations, and put them head to head, the results are worrying.

1     8     3 Time, Love And Tenderness Michael Bolton
5     1     9 Out Of Time REM

40   17   15 Divinyls Divinyls
43 101   97 Soul Provider Michael Bolton

63   21   13 In The Blood Londonbeat
74 199 123 Beaches Soundtrack

90   47     6 Mama Said Lenny Kravitz
96 181   21 If There Was A Way Dwight Yoakam

With those examples, we notice that albums charting #17 were selling the same as albums at #101, or that #21 albums had a similar pace of sales to the album ranked #199. We may believe they were natural climbers / droppers for the week, but I explicitly used albums that were steady for long with no reason for a big change in sales in the middle of May.

What happens when we compare the full chart runs of artists from the two extremes?